STD Facts Belie Condom Crowd’s Safe-Sex Rhetoric

The director of the Culture and Family Institute says the rise in a couple of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is proof that so-called “safe sex” does not work to prevent the spread of venereal diseases. Federal health officials say syphilis and chlamydia infection rates are on the rise.

The federal experts say part of the reason for the rise in syphilis cases &#0151 81% since 2000 &#0151 is the cyclical nature of the disease. However, they also attribute the increase to a reported rise in risky sex among homosexual men. The report from the Centers for Disease Control says 64% of last year's reported early-stage syphilis infections occurred among that group.

Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute says these statistics show the failures of the condom promotion done by “safe sex” advocates among the homosexual community. “They've spent millions of dollars in federal funds on safe-sex programs,” he says. “They're basically telling these guys, 'Go on, do whatever you want with whomever you want, as long as you use condoms.”

However, Knight asserts, promoting the safe-sex-through-condom-use myth is a strategy doomed to failure. “As long as they do that,” he says, “we're going to see a rise in all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.”

The CFI spokesman says the combination of misplaced confidence in condoms and effective treatments for HIV and AIDS give homosexual men too little reason to abstain from sexual activity because they see no consequences to their actions.

“The young men are being told that if you just use condoms you'll be safe,” Knight adds, “and a lot of them are practicing reckless sex anyway because they think the specter of dying from AIDS has been lifted because of the HIV treatment drugs.” But the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections among homosexuals prove otherwise, he says.

Condom Advocates' Misinformation Campaign Continues

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently come out with new guidelines for condom package labeling, purportedly in an effort to comply with a law signed in 2000, requiring that the labels be medically accurate about condoms' effectiveness &#0151 or lack thereof &#0151 in preventing the spread of STDs, including the human papillomavirus, or HPV. But critics of the guidelines say they fall short of fulfilling the law's requirements.

Linda Klepacki is Focus on the Family's Analyst for Sexual Health. She says the new FDA regulations regarding the consumer information provided on condom packages still do not ensure truth in advertising on the part of the condom manufacturers.

“Up to this time, condom labeling has been notoriously misleading about the efficacy of preventing the spread of STDs, particularly the spread of HPV &#0151 the leading cause of cervical cancer,” Klepacki asserts. “Unfortunately, the guidelines released… remain medically inaccurate.”

The sexual health expert notes that no epidemiological evidence exists demonstrating that condoms lower the risk of contracting human papillomavirus. And yet, she points out, the FDA's guidelines state that “consistent use of condoms may provide some benefit for these STDs, such as reduced risk of herpes infection or reduced risk of developing HPV-related diseases.”

Klepacki calls this “an appalling deception” by which the FDA, under the guise of correcting previous errors, has “allowed the condom purveyors to continue to create false hope about the effectiveness of their product.”

Even more disturbing, the Focus on the Family analyst asserts, is the knowledge that children are being “indoctrinated with this deception” in schools in the name of comprehensive sex ed. “Our kids are being assured that they should place their faith in a piece of latex &#0151 never knowing that they are jeopardizing their own lives if they do so,” she says.

According to Klepacki, the FDA's announcement of its new guidelines only serves to underscore the importance of parents educating their children about what she calls “the only safe and effective method of preventing STDs &#0151 abstinence before marriage and faithfulness thereafter.”

Abstinence, Klepacki contends, ensures the best possible future for children, a future not marred by unplanned pregnancy or disease. She says Focus on the Family is calling on the FDA to revise its guidelines to comply fully with federal law and end its participation in this pro-condom misinformation campaign.

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